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Actualyze and OpenRouter

Actualyze. Govern AI wherever you buy inference. Keep OpenRouter as one source among many.

OpenRouter is an AI gateway and model marketplace, and Actualyze is the enterprise AI gateway and AI governance platform that can keep OpenRouter as one source. Actualyze puts every model, OpenRouter's included, under one set of approvals and budgets and one monthly close.

Competitor facts checked against OpenRouter's documentation on .

In short

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each gateway's governance

Actualyze

Your organization

policy from Team Owners and Budget Managers

Inference

  • public APIs
  • brokers
  • GPU clouds
  • OpenRouter
  • your own servers

OpenRouter

Traffic through OpenRouter

policy from organization admins

Inference

  • OpenRouter's catalog
  • your keys for supported providers

Side by side

OpenRouter is an AI gateway and model marketplace. OpenRouter customers reach models from many providers through one API and one account, and pay with OpenRouter credits. In August 2026, OpenRouter announced that it is joining Stripe.

Actualyze and OpenRouter, side by side
ActualyzeOpenRouter
Pricing and routing
Where cost figures come from

Priced per model and provider. Unknown cost is never $0

OpenRouter's recorded charge for each request

Spend on your own provider keys counts at that value, which can differ from your provider's invoice.

One model, many providers

One model through any provider the caller can use

Load-balances each model across providers, favoring price

A request can order, limit, skip, or sort the providers.

Routing across models

Sizes each request, picks the cheapest model strong enough

A Virtual Model, one name over several models, picks only among models the caller can already use.

Auto Router picks a model by task type and market share

OpenRouter classifies each prompt by task, then ranks models by their recent share of spend.

Provider prompt caches

Stays on the cached model unless moving saves money

Stays on the cached provider when cache reads cost less

OpenRouter holds this for 10 idle minutes, and a request's own provider order overrides it.

Access and spend
Who approves access and spend

Each model names its own approver. Budget Managers own spend

Org admins decide both, in OpenRouter guardrails

An OpenRouter guardrail sets budgets and allowed models and providers for members or API keys.

Budgets and limits

Budgets nest. A call past the limit is rejected

Workspace budgets block requests once a limit is met

OpenRouter checks them before routing. Spend on your own keys counts only if Include BYOK spend is on.

Chargeback and the month

Finance closes the month on one statement

Inference billed at the provider's list price

Credit purchases carry a 5.5% fee on Standard and 8% on Business.

Protection
On from the first request

Personal data masked from the first request

The default guardrail masks personal data in prompts and responses, and nobody can delete it.

Sensitive Info redacts or blocks PII once enabled

OpenRouter scans prompts and tool-call arguments, not model responses.

Weakening protection

Protection can't be quietly switched off

Only org admins create and manage OpenRouter guardrails

Records and reach
Audit record

Each routed call records which model answered and why

The record can't be edited, and it names the model the app asked for.

Logs record model, final provider, attempts, and cost

What the controls reach

Any LLM, anywhere, behind an OpenAI- or Anthropic-style API

Your own servers too, through a relay you run that only connects outward.

Only providers OpenRouter supports, even on your own keys

OpenRouter Private Endpoints need a provider it supports for BYOK and a model already in its catalog.

Bringing a model online

Each model goes live only after its own approval

Catalog models are callable unless an allowlist limits them

Deployment
Deployment

Hosted today. On-prem deployment coming in 2027

Hosted API at openrouter.ai/api/v1

Reach

Actualyze. Any model, anywhere, under one set of rules.

Actualyzeone set of approvals, budgets, and masking

  • OpenRoutera managed gateway endpoint

    • its model catalog
    • Private Endpointsa catalog model on a provider it supports for BYOK
  • a provider outside the catalogOpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible
  • a GPU cloud
  • your own serversthrough the Inference Relay

Actualyze governs every source without selling you inference.

OpenRouter serves catalog models on providers it supports.

With Actualyze, governance doesn't depend on whose inference you buy.

Any provider that speaks the OpenAI or Anthropic API plugs straight into Actualyze, from public APIs to GPU clouds, whether OpenRouter carries it or not. A vLLM or Ollama server inside your network joins by way of the Actualyze Inference Relay, a component you run that only dials out. OpenRouter stays connected as one more source, and every source answers to the same approvals, budgets, and masking. Governance belongs above every source you buy from, not inside one of them.

OpenRouter's controls reach the providers it supports.

OpenRouter can run requests on your own provider keys (BYOK). OpenRouter Private Endpoints, on the Enterprise plan, add your own deployment of an OpenRouter catalog model, hosted by a provider OpenRouter supports for BYOK. A provider OpenRouter doesn't support can't be added under OpenRouter's controls.

Spend

Actualyze. Finance closes the month on AI spend.

Actualyze

spend this budget sees

$1,000of $1,500

Support budget

through OpenRouter$600

on your own keys$400

Actualyze counts every call, your own provider keys included.

OpenRouter

spend this budget sees

$600of $1,500

workspace budget

through OpenRouter$600

on your own keys$400

Include BYOK spend, off

counted once switched on

OpenRouter counts spend on your own keys once a toggle is on.

Actualyze gives finance one monthly close across OpenRouter and every other source.

Every call through Actualyze charges a budget, whether OpenRouter serves it, your own provider key does, or a model server in your network does. Nothing needs switching on. A Budget Manager controls who can bill each budget, and a department can split its budget among its teams. At month end, finance reviews and settles one statement that covers every source.

OpenRouter blocks requests once a workspace budget is met.

Only org admins set OpenRouter workspace budgets. Spend on your own provider keys counts toward them only if Include BYOK spend is on. OpenRouter bills inference at the provider's list price, and credit purchases carry a 5.5% fee on Standard and 8% on Business.

Pricing

Actualyze. Priced at what you really pay, down to the call.

Actualyze

modelclaude-sonnet

throughyour own provider key

tokens1.4M

cost

$2.94

sourcethe rate you confirmed, $2.10 / M

Actualyze books the call at your negotiated rate.

OpenRouter

modelclaude-sonnet

throughyour own provider key

tokens1.4M

cost

$3.50

sourceOpenRouter's recorded cost, not necessarily your invoice

OpenRouter records its own inference cost for the call.

With Actualyze, every source is priced at the rate your company pays.

Once your negotiated rate with a provider is confirmed, Actualyze charges every call on your own key for that provider at exactly that rate. Calls through OpenRouter keep OpenRouter's price, so each source carries its own cost on one ledger. Until you confirm a rate, the list price stands in, so finance never waits on a number.

OpenRouter counts a call on your own key at OpenRouter's recorded cost.

By default, OpenRouter tries your own provider keys (BYOK) first. If those keys fail or hit a rate limit, OpenRouter falls back to its shared capacity and spends OpenRouter credits. For a BYOK call, OpenRouter records its own inference cost, which isn't necessarily what your provider invoices you.

Evaluate

Six questions every AI gateway should answer live

If your AI gateway can't tell you who approved a model or what last month cost each team, it's just moving traffic. Put these questions to every vendor on your list, and ask to see each answer working in the product. Actualyze answers every one today, and each comes with a check you can run in your own trial.

  1. Who approves a team's access to each model?

    The leading delegation and approval system for AI spend starts here. In Actualyze, each model names its own approver.

    Request a model that needs approval as a team member, and check who receives the request and where the decision is recorded.

  2. What decides which model answers each request?

    In Actualyze, a routing model we train sizes each request and picks the cheapest model strong enough, the best model routing in the field.

    Send an easy question and a hard one to one Virtual Model, then see which model each was routed to, and why.

  3. What happens to a call when its budget runs out?

    Actualyze rejects it before any model is contacted, so a budget is a real limit and never a surprise on the bill.

    Set a small test budget and confirm the next request is rejected once it reaches its limit.

  4. Does an unknown cost ever show up as $0?

    An unknown cost is never $0 in Actualyze, which marks it unpriced and flags it for FinOps, so no spend hides behind a zero.

    Connect a third-party endpoint with no catalog price, call it, and check the call reads unpriced, not $0.

  5. What is protected before anyone writes a policy?

    Personal data is masked from the first request in Actualyze, in prompts and responses, by a default guardrail nobody can delete.

    Open a new workspace's guardrails before writing any policy, and confirm the default guardrail is already enforcing.

  6. Can finance close the month on AI spend?

    Finance closes the month on AI spend with one Actualyze statement, a row for each budget, reviewed and then settled.

    Generate a statement for a month with traffic, then move it from draft to reviewed to settled.

Common questions

Can we keep OpenRouter behind Actualyze?
Yes, and you keep buying from OpenRouter as you do today. Actualyze connects OpenRouter as one source and wraps it in everything else you need, from approvals and budgets to personal data masking. OpenRouter calls land on the same monthly statement as every other source.
What is the difference between Actualyze and OpenRouter?
The difference between Actualyze and OpenRouter is that Actualyze governs every source you use without selling you inference. In Actualyze, the approver each model's rule names, usually a Team Owner, signs off on access and a Budget Manager signs off on spend, even when the model comes through OpenRouter. In OpenRouter, organization admins set budgets and allowed models in OpenRouter guardrails.
Can Actualyze route between OpenRouter and our direct providers?
Yes, with the best model routing in the field, built to cut cost without losing quality. A Virtual Model is one name your apps call for several models across OpenRouter and your direct providers. A routing model Actualyze trains chooses the cheapest model strong enough for each request, and a standby route takes over when one goes down. Cache-aware routing moves a conversation only when the move still saves money.

Sources

21 pages, checked

OpenRouter, Stripe, and other product names mentioned here are trademarks of their respective owners. Actualyze is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.

Head to head

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Give every model an approver and every call a budget.

Connect the providers you already use and test every claim on this page against your own traffic. Or book a demo. We'll walk you through it, and send the Virtual Model engine whitepaper if routing is on your list.

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